Eschew “Experts,” Follow the Curious
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 11:41PM 
I drank this tonight. But don’t call it the perfect Martini.
I’ve noticed something about my reading, podcast listening, and Twitter following habits lately—I’m not interested in hearing from “experts.” By that term I mean a certain type who seem to feel that they’ve crested the mountaintop of knowledge on a particular subject, and are now prepared to dole out this valuable accrual of information to whomever will politely listen. Experts tell you the “correct” answer, because they know.
This static state of expertise is sad and uninteresting to me, because it is the opposite of curiosity. It wrongly defines education as a goal rather than a process.
You may have noticed over the years that I often culminate a big, nerdy Prolost post with a disclaimer that I am not an expert. This is more than just covering my ass, this is an honest description of how I feel. What I try to do here is describe my current explorations, in their current state, and share with you the questions I’m asking myself and the new and ever-changing discoveries I’ve made that caused me to ask them.
“I write to find out what I think.” Search for that quotation and you’ll find attributed to everyone from Stephen King to Joan Didion. It is the first answer I give whenever anyone asks why I keep this blog. If a thought or idea is floating about in my head, the exercise of forcing it into a cogent essay will either cure it into discrete form, or prove that it had none. This does mean that for every post you see here, there is probably one or more that was abandoned due to my failure to wrestle form from the chaos. There are also ideas very important to me that I haven’t written about here yet, because I’m still herding the cats into roping distance.
But sometimes it works exactly as I hope. When I sat down to write about Canon’s release of the 7D, I posed the question, “Is the APS-C format good enough for filmmaking?” I explored the pros (it roughly matches Super 35 film) and the cons (the sexiest stills lenses are still optimized for full-frame), and ultimately found an answer—yes. You can actually see me talking myself into buying the camera. I wrote “You got me Canon. I’ll probably buy a 7D,” and then half a page later, “Pre-order your 7D now. I sure did.” That’s actually true—I got to the end of the article, went to Amazon, pre-ordered the camera, and then came back to press the “publish” button.
This exploration that I conduct in public here on these pages is an expression of my curiosity, and I am drawn to others like myself who share their journey rather than announce their arrival at a knowledge destination. Here are some examples.
Anything from fxguide is good, but the Red Centre podcast (renamed “The RC” in the same way that Kentucky Fried Chicken is now just “KFC”—better not to admit/claim that your chicken is fried or that your digital cinematography show is biased toward a particular camera) is a standout. Mike Seymour and Jason Wingrove strike a perfect balance of tech and art, and distill festering piles of controversy into deliscious 90-proof facts.
I’ve always enjoyed Merlin Mann’s appearances on MacBreak Weekly, as well as his talks and writing about productivity, but lately, as he’s been working on his book, he’s been sharing his curiosity with the world with an almost unnerving honesty on a new show from Dan Benjamin’s 5x5 network called Back To Work. There have only been four episodes so far, so go listen to them all. I’ll wait.
By the way, Dan Benjamin and Leo Laporte (MacBreak Weekly, TWiT) are similarly gifted podcast hosts precisely because they nurture a healthy and perpetual curiosity.
Here’s a left-fielder. I love coffee. So does Mark Prince, AKA the coffeegeek. His website and far-too-infrequent podcast have helped me tremendously with my coffee journey, and although his shows have dwindled to a trickle, his most recent episode is not only terrific, it turned me on to James Hoffman’s blog at jimseven.com. James’s beautiful site is full of great, nerdy coffee exploration. I was delighted to see that his Cappuccino recipe is almost identical to my own (down to the controversially cool milk temperature), but was I was even happier to read his admonition that “I’m not going to label this ‘the perfect cappuccino’ because that sort of thing makes me angry.”
What’s the best camera? What’s the right setting for the 5D? Do you transcode to ProRes?
I appreciate a good cocktail, especially a Martini. A decade ago, when I started drinking them in earnest, what I then called a Martini I wouldn’t even call a cocktail now. Over the years my taste careened from vodka in a glass (AKA not a cocktail) to undiluted gin, to the well-balanced twist on the traditional concoction I had this evening. Which, if you’re curious, was 2 oz Hendricks gin, 1 oz Sutton Cellars vermouth, and 1 dash of Regan’s Orange Bitters, stirred vigorously and at length, served up with a twist in a chilled cocktail glass.
I never order a Martini with a twist. I love olives, especially gin-soaked olives. But tonight I had an amazing, fresh Meyer lemon, freshly picked from a friend’s tree, just sitting there half-demolished from contributing to other drinks. I was overcome with curiosity about how its rind might taste in my drink.
It was delicious.
If you’d handed that drink to me ten years ago, I may not have known what to do with it. I was wrong—dead, stupid wrong—back then about what makes a good Martini. I wonder if, ten years from now I’ll think the same of my present-day recipe. My point, and I thank you for your patience, is that it doesn’t matter. I’ve been enjoying my Martinis the whole time. And I’ll continue to enjoy them, because I’ll never stop being insanely curious about how to make a better one tomorrow.
Do you see what I’m getting at here? No matter how much you know, you’re probably doing it wrong. There’s no victory, so enjoy the vector.
I’m just a dude on a journey. I’m no expert. Want a little piece of advice?
Tough.
Reader Comments (21)
Thanks for the Martini tip. I have some Hendricks' gin that I found doesn't shine through in gin and tonics and have wanted to find the right cocktail for it. Is it Sutton Cellars Brown Label Vermouth that you used?
and we always love sharing your very interesting thought processes on this blog, and learn with them much more than you would guess
but, two questions:
* coffee: do you like yours "italian style" (small and strong) or "american style" (big and watery)? just to know if I should put any weight on your opinions on this particular matter...
* surely we shouldn't read anything out of the "tagged: Panasonic GH2" that can be found at the end of the post...
For those like me not famaliar Sutton Cellars Vermouth; here's a link to a NY Times Article I found interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/dining/05sfdine.html
I thoroughly enjoy your blog and it's 'expert' information. In fact I'm obsessive about sharing it with fellow students and aspiring media creators like myself. In SF met an Anthropology student at the Powell st. turnaround who bought a 7D recently to use in Africa who is no doubt reading this and will certainly benefit from the wit and wisdom you share with us all... So thank you for sharing with us about tasty beverages that you enjoy this week.
Now, the DV rebellion continues...would you kindly shoot/comment with/on one of the new Canon XF-105 cameras as it seems as though they claim they have 50Mb/s 4:2:2 from a 1/3"CMOS. all for $4000.
Now I hope you enjoyed the Martinis, Let's got some coffee flowing...It's my first shoot with my new 39" Glidecam today. thanks...and thanks for turning me on the the 24-70mm2.8f/L....
oh BTW thanks for the After Effects/colorista 2 tutorial. nice...
"I’m just a dude on a journey. I’m no expert. Want a little piece of advice?"
No thanks. ;-)
This is great - regardless of the field I always try to find the curious people instead of the experts... I think this is especially important in the internet age.
So, in the spirit of sharing such sites, I have been sharing this post with anyone who will listen, and figured I'd share a site that does the same thing for me - in a completely unrelated field that I am interested in - planted aquariums: http://www.barrreport.com/
This is a great post. Something I've been struggling with lately though - how do you make a living as one of the curious when the world seems to be looking for experts? I'm finding it a difficult pitch to potential clients - I'm reluctant to call myself an expert because I'm constantly aware of how much more there is to learn and the limitations of my own knowledge, but at the same time I know that I'm equally capable to many 'experts'. I'm also not interested in the specialization that is needed to truly become what I would consider an expert in a given field. Unfortunately I find people either want the assurance of hiring an 'expert', or they're willing to go with someone who isn't one only because they don't want to spend much money.
Stu,
You might also enjoy the Better Brewing podcast, it's beer but they interviewed me and others on coffee roasting. Sweet Maria's is a great local coffee site/ supplier. Lots of info and they sell high quality green beans.
I mention the above because of some very similar interests and because I went on the same Martini trip. There is also a tread on Epicurious by a guy working his way through the Savoy cocktail book. Some very tasty and interesting stuff.
Evan, I think the key is to be an "Expert" to those who need you to be that, but don't get lost in your own marketing.
Cheers
SK
Excellent post
-A win.
"It wrongly defines education as a goal rather than a process."
I love that quote... and I love Vodka!
Great post!
I am no expert but....
vermouth is wormwood is absinthe. Absinthe/wormwood/vermouth contains thujone which is a banned substance in the USA.
So I doubt that you are drinking 'real' vermouth. Like the stuff that is sold as absinthe in the US I suspect it contains all other ingredients and is manufactured in the traditional way of a vermouth except it contains no vermouth.
Great Blog BTW, and a great post, been following for years but a bit of Trivia made me finally say hello.
I'm no expert either, but you inspired my curiosity with that comment. Seems that although the German word for Vermouth, Wermut, does also mean wormwood, and the original recipe for Vermouth is thought to have been inspired by a wormwood-infused wine, what we now consider proper Vermouth does not contain wormwood.
That's not the case with Absinthe, which must contain wormwood to be considered proper. Wormwood was famously credited for helping to inspire Vincent Van Gough to cut off his ear, but a modern understanding of thujone reveals that Van Gough was just nuts. If you drank enough Absinthe for the thujone to begin having any trace of its signature hallucinogenic effect, you'd have long since died of alcohol poisoning.
After years of legal wrangling, one of my favorite local distillers, St. George Spirits, helped to partially lift this silly wormwood ban and is now selling a proper Absinthe in the US.
Glad to hear about the lifting of the ban, as far as I can tell the import of thujone containing products is still prohibited but I may be wrong.
The movement in Europe and then America to ban Absinthe (during WW1) is to my knowledge the first propaganda campaign to successfully prohibit a substance and the same methods were then used to prohibit all alcohol in the US and then other substances.
A modern understanding of thujone does indeed show that you would be dead from alcohol poisoning many times over before you might see any green fairies but there does seem to have been something in the Absinthe of the day that made people nuts.
After the demand for Absinthe grew due to a blight on grape vines unscrupulous manufacturers mass produced nasty grain based Absinthe which they coloured with......copper fillings!!! Heavy metal poisoning of the brain, yummy.
If you ever make it to Ireland Stu I have an excellent Swiss bleu Absinthe (clear) that I would be happy to spend an evening 'sampling'
I'll be right over!
“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.”
- Albert Einstein
Except for the alcohol part, pure poetry man.!
Might I suggest for your next martini you try 2oz Cadenhead's The Old Raj Gin (bottled at 55% ABV), 1/2 oz Vya Dry Vermouth, and a dash of The Bitter Truth Orange Bitters.
Cadenhead's has the barest trace amount of safron, which gives it a distinctive and spicy taste and a yellow tint. The Bitter Truth are a line of cocktail bitters produced by two young German bartenders who are passionate about recreating the historically accurate tastes of the early part of the last century--they are rich and complex. And Vya is a California vermouth that is, unlike many vermouths made of wine tailings, good enough to drink on its own.
All of this adds up to a roller coaster ride of cocktail taste--a smooth story, with a beginning, middle, and end, that illustrates why the three martini lunch was once so popular.
And of course, begging to differ with Ian Fleming and Mr. Bond, always stirred, never shaken.
I love Old Raj (made a Rolls Royce with it tonight), and look forward to trying that recipe, thanks!
If you want an intense Old Raj experience, try this:
.5 oz Old Raj Gin
.5 oz Green Chartreuse
Stir (of course) with ice and serve up in a wee cocktail glass.
That's a "55 Degree," so named because both ingredientes are 55% ABV. Which is why you make it so small! It shouldn't work, but it does.
Re: 55°, I'll mix one up this evening. And Sutton Cellars is superb. I have a bottle in the fridge and had a glass neat last night as I was reading your book.
Glad to hear you're a fellow cocktail enthusiast, and thanks for the tip. If you're interested, I'll forward you David Wondrich's excellent recipe for The Wiffin cocktail, so named for the P.G. Wodehouse's character of Ambrose Wiffin. And just by the by, I've always felt that mixing music, color timing, cooking, making cocktails, and making films all come from a similar place in the brain, a pleasure center apparently activated by combining subtle tastes, colors, sensations, sounds etc to create something entirely new. I find that most of my most talented friends share a similar passion, and I always thought that if I weren't a director I'd be a chef.
Best Mid-life crisis Blog post ever! :)
"It wrongly defines education as a goal rather than a process."
Clutch statement.
Tag: Panasonic GH2
Though you may already be thinking this, any chance of a solid review of your new GH2? Perhaps pros and cons and where the Canon is still the way to go vs the GH2. (Lens availability etc...yes I know adapters can be purchased.)
On your Gh2 store, your wording reads "...[it] mops the floor..." of the others. Tell us moire. Why should someone as a rebel get one vs the other?
If you have time:) I always enjoy your posts.
Jer